I tried to tack on to the old pergola thread below with way too many words when what I should have done is provided some pictures.

Shorter story: Contractor has built a 16x12 side patio. New slab and pergola with polygal roof. Electrical was a bit of an afterthought in the quoting process so I didn't hash out all the details I should have before they started work. The plan was to power a ceiling fan and to have an outlet in the far upper corner for some string lights and maybe a TV. I have some concerns/questions about how things were done.

The power is routed from an existing GFI outlet that was on the exterior wall (used plastic conduit):


Goes under the slab and comes up through plastic conduit at the far post to what looks like an outdoor rated switch:


I think I'm ok up to this point but let me know if y'all see any gotchas.

At the top, you can see the small piece of 90 degree conduit and then the bare wire goes up to the outlet which looks like an indoor blue plastic junction box. It originally had a plain indoor faceplate on it...I asked for an outdoor outlet and it looks like he just replaced the faceplate with an 'in-use' outdoor cover, but the blue plastic housing for the outlet is still there. The outlet is now recessed such that you cannot see it unless you are standing under the header but I still think the blue plastic box is wrong


Bare wire is then run from the outlet to the ceiling fan location. The ceiling fan is not installed yet because we bought the wrong one...need a pull chain or remote control instead of an inline wall mount control.



Questions:
1. Is it ok to use any bare wire or should it all be in conduit? I had expected it all to be run in metal conduit and was surprised to find out that the grey PVC is pretty commonly used.
2. Does there need to be some sort of outdoor rated junction box for both the outlet and ceiling fan? His plan with the ceiling fan was to simply mount the bracket from the fan to the bottom of the rafter so the 'junction box' would basically be the fan canopy. Similar to this. We have asked him to put two pieces of wood on either side of the rafters so that the canopy is 'closed' but it is still not any sort of junction box.
3. We had bought and still plan on buying a 'wet' rated outdoor ceiling fan. I'm wondering if I can get away with using a 'damp' rated outdoor ceiling fan since I have the polycarbonate roof. Thoughts?

Still too many words but let me know what y'all think with the pictures...

Thanks! I didn't really like the exposed wiring coming out of the conduit so I will have them change that and put an outdoor grey box.

I'm pretty sure it is outdoor rated romex but I need to get on a ladder to doublecheck the marking. It is the same wire that was used in the conduit and running under the slab so I certainly hope so.

The wire is labeled as E30445 which seems to match this from HD and the jacket definitely says UF-B so I think I'm good to go. I'm not certain if that part number indicates gauge...can't quite make it out on the actual cable...might be 12 or 16.

Edit: Found another spot with clearer marking - 14 AWG

When we do our pergolas we use UF rated direct burial rates wire from the first box up the column and anywhere else we are running. At that point we cover all wire with a piece of trim that we router out a channel to cover.

AggieSam02 said:

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When we do our pergolas we use UF rated direct burial rates wire from the first box up the column and anywhere else we are running. At that point we cover all wire with a piece of trim that we router out a channel to cover.

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That method would even look better than the grey PVC...

-Blue box must go! Conduit needs to run up to and attach to the correct box at that location.

-At least they used UF cable instead of Romex for the surface mount. UF is rated for wet use outdoors. You are good to go there but it isn't the prettiest. Agree with the others....routing out a channel and/or covering with trim is pretty common these days.

-Under the roofed pergola meets both the NEC and UL 1568 definitions of damp areas for your fan.

Thanks folks for the responses! I thought I would provide a follow up in case anyone finds this thread through search years from now...

The contractor did replace the blue box with a grey outdoor box and added one more elbow of conduit but still left about 3 inches of wire between the additional elbow and the junction box. I didn't take any pictures but decided I was going to be pissed every time I looked at it so I ended up redoing it myself to make the full connection to the box. I also replaced what seemed like a less functional 'expandable' cover with a deep fixed cover and added a conduit strap.




The contractor also moved the wire run to the ceiling fan to the other side of the rafter so it can't be seen from inside the house. I expected the additional pieces of wood for the fan canopy to be squared but he rounded them.